Question about a 'boot floppy'

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jethro
  • Start date Start date
J

Jethro

I have learned that making a bootable, recovery floppy disk containing
the three files - boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com can be invaluable
to getting a problem XP installation to work again.

What I am wondering is - suppose I need to modify something in, say,
the boot.ini file (such as the 'partition(#)'. Can I do such an edit
on the problem machine somehow? Or am I forced to do it on a second
working machine using. for example, notepad.exe? If I don't happen to
have a second machine, am I in deep doo doo? Maybe there is a small
edit program that can be co-located on the recovery floppy that could
run from the floppy?

Or is this a dumb question? I hope not.

Jethro
 
Jethro said:
I have learned that making a bootable, recovery floppy disk
containing the three files - boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com can
be invaluable to getting a problem XP installation to work again.

What I am wondering is - suppose I need to modify something in, say,
the boot.ini file (such as the 'partition(#)'. Can I do such an
edit on the problem machine somehow? Or am I forced to do it on a
second working machine using. for example, notepad.exe? If I don't
happen to have a second machine, am I in deep doo doo? Maybe there
is a small edit program that can be co-located on the recovery
floppy that could run from the floppy?

Or is this a dumb question? I hope not.
Click to expand...

With Windows XP - it is far less necessary to make a bootable floppy
diskette. The Windows XP CD itself is bootable and contains the tools most
people will need to recover a system. Beyond that - far more valuable CDs
can be made such as:

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

Ultimate Boot CD
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Those (especially the first, given the question asked) will give you more
familiar environments to work in with more familiar tools.
 
Many, many buyers of PC's do not receive a Windows XP CD with their
purchase. They then, need to create/write
recovery floppies/discs..
 
Unknown said:
Many, many buyers of PC's do not receive a Windows XP CD with their
purchase. They then, need to create/write
recovery floppies/discs..
Click to expand...

Not recovery floppies - you would need hundreds of them! Yes, recovery
disks if the computer is an OEM machine with a restore image on the hard
drive (HP, Sony, etc.). The 6-floppy recovery set only allows you to
start an installation and then you need to put in the XP cd.

So no, there is no need to create any sort of operating system floppy
with XP.


Malke
 
Sorry about that. I should have said 'Recovery Repair Diskette.' This is
for IBM which is now Lenovo PC's.
It is a floppy.
 
'Malke' wrote:
| Not recovery floppies - you would need hundreds of them! Yes, recovery
| disks if the computer is an OEM machine with a restore image on the hard
| drive (HP, Sony, etc.). The 6-floppy recovery set only allows you to
| start an installation and then you need to put in the XP cd.
|
| So no, there is no need to create any sort of operating system floppy
| with XP.
_____

Remember when OS 2 came on 20 floppies B^)

Phil Weldon

| Unknown wrote:
| > Many, many buyers of PC's do not receive a Windows XP CD with their
| > purchase. They then, need to create/write
| > recovery floppies/discs..
|
| Not recovery floppies - you would need hundreds of them! Yes, recovery
| disks if the computer is an OEM machine with a restore image on the hard
| drive (HP, Sony, etc.). The 6-floppy recovery set only allows you to
| start an installation and then you need to put in the XP cd.
|
| So no, there is no need to create any sort of operating system floppy
| with XP.
|
|
| Malke
| --
| Elephant Boy Computers
| www.elephantboycomputers.com
| "Don't Panic!"
| MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
 
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